If the final season of the mythologically dense Lost feels a little bit familiar to you, there might be a good reason: It's a whole lot like the final season of the mythologically dense Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Here are six ways the two shows' last arcs dovetail, mimic, and flat-out pilfer from each other:
The season's primary villain is a shape-shifter
Perhaps the most obvious similarity the two seasons share is that each is concluding its series with a shape-shifting archenemy. On Lost, that'd be the Monster, which has transformed into Locke, Ben's daughter, Eko's brother, Jack's dad, someone's nagging mother-in-law almost certainly, and Deadwood's Titus Welliver, among others. Buffy had its own transforming baddie in the First Evil, which could shape-shift into prior seasons' Big Bads based on guest star availability (though producers eventually decided, eh, let's just have it look like Sarah Michelle Gellar a lot).
Everyone hates the show's lead character
Both Lost and Buffy are taking unsympathetic and oddly similar routes with their lead characters in the final homestretch. Like Jack, Buffy went through a demoralizing penultimate season then, upon summoning leadership from deep within, found herself constantly questioned and glared at by the over-it supporting characters. Will Jack have to face a mutiny later in the season, mirroring the late-in-the-game moment where Buffy's friends turned on her? It's hard to be the leader, guys. Let's see Hurley or Anya try to do it!
The villain can't directly kill its biggest enemy and must recruit followers
For some reason, Lost's Monster couldn't just waltz in and behead his rival Jacob, no matter how annoying that guy's beatific manner got over centuries of living on the island together. Presumably, we'll find out why that is later on (might it have something to do with how enemies Ben and Widmore also can't lay a finger on each other?), but until then, the Monster's taken cues from the incorporeal First Evil, recruiting morally weak human followers to do its dirty work.
An accented know-it-all is walking around, sizing up all the extras
After recurring through season five, Lost's Ilana has come to the fore in the final season, though she's basically just scouring the island, looking for mysterious "candidates." She really should team up with Buffy's Giles, who also recurred in that show's penultimate season, then came back in the last year principally to scour the world, looking for Slayer candidates. Both of them could stand to divulge more of that mythology they always seem to know so much about, and both of them look excellent in vests.
A morally gray character's been exhorted to stab someone in a sacred place
The Lost scene where the shape-shifting Monster takes the form of John Locke and coaxes Ben to kill Jacob was certainly striking, partially because of Ben's notable "I'm going to stab you from above like I'm placing my ballot in a box" approach to knifing. Still, it kind of lost something for totally, completely aping the Buffy moment where the shape-shifting First Evil took the form of Warren and coaxed Andrew to kill Jonathan. Both scenes took place in a sacred area, and after the fey followers got their stabbing on, both supervillains attempted to ascend to a new, powerful plateau thanks to the blood sacrifice. How long before Lost Island is overrun with wee little Ubervamps?
The show's most popular character is still the blond, conflicted anti-hero
Let's face it: Sawyer is definitely Lost's version of Spike. Each blond bad boy assumed a one-note role at the beginning of his run, then became the unlikely third spoke in a love triangle between a fisticuffs-prone female lead and a solid, better-on-paper lunk of a man. Still, for as many sparks have been struck, each anti-hero went through such an emotional ride that by the time the final season's second episode rolled around, they were reduced to teary monologues instead of sexually inappropriate banter. Kate may not be able to get it on with Sawyer anymore, but at least Buffy got one more neutral cuddle with Spike by the time her series ended.